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Little masterwork game

Hello!
A Traitor's Hold is a game that won the SECOND PLACE in the Golden Week of RM2k3 event! This means that this game was made in a short time and got a very good placement in the contest! And this is the reason why I wanted to try it!
A Taitor's Hold starts its story *in media res*, and it's the classic story about four heroes looking to defeat a Dark Lord. So nothing new here, except for the fact that this is a parody of the genre: the thief of the group hates the weak healer, the leader Tybald is a coward and the other people that populated the fantasy world aren't really better than them!


Oh yeah, I know that Cernus (wait! Isn't that the same name of the Dev?)!

For the rest the game is really classical. VERY classical, I mean there are Rtp, side view combats with the usual monsters and battlers, random encounters and so on... BUT there is also some innovation: the Orb System.
Ok, so our characters are a fighter, a thief, a summoner and a healer, but they can learn other powers equipping the "job orbs". They cannot equip the orb of their same class (of course!) but they can find other orbs with new jobs that aren't of one of theirs (such as the Monk Orb, the Scholar Orb, and so on). Moreover, mastering the Thief Orb unlocks the famous Blue Magic from Final Fantasy, that let them learn powers from enemies.
But it's not all! There are also optional hidden bosses that can be defeated (one is Bahamut and was VERY strong!) to learn some new summons!

Ok, this is the good and interesting part, but there is also something that left me puzzled: dungeons have to be explored but you are also expected to withdraw at a certain point. This happens in the very first dungeon, but also in the one of the desert, for example. You are looking for loot and/or something to complete a secondary quest but there is no cutscene or dungeon exit... you simply have to go back to the entrance and leave re-entering the main map. As I wrote before this left me puzzled since I expected something more and I kept exploring the dungeons believing I missed something!
The good thing is that after you finish the prologue (unlocking the fourth party member, the access the the tower of the Dark Lord and the possibility to wander freely on the world map) you can visit each dungeon in any order (by unlocking the relative side quest). So yes, exploration is encouraged, since you can also find chest scattered around with loot everywhere (don't wastte your time with any other item, since only chests can be interacted with) even if sometimes they just contain some cheap consumable but hey, these are free!

Oh, I said that the game uses Rtp and has dungeons but I still did not mention the mapping: it's ok, average, nothing bad or excellent (often large, empty and a bit bland, lacking details), there is almost no interaction except with chests and some particular items. In most cases there are dead ends and you are supposed to leave the dungeon from the entrance, as I explained before. Anyway not bad, Rtp resources are used well, monsters usually fit the scenarios in which they are encountered, and combat is very classic, not extremely difficult except against some bosses, of course.
What I really loved about the game were the amusing dialogues and situations (the loooong explanation about "how phoenix down kills undeads" was gold!), the parody is strong in this game.


Let's learn kung fu fighting!

Final Verdict
Why the title "A Traitor's Hold"? Well to understand this you have to finish the game, and I suggest to do that because this is an entertaining, well made little gem. Ok, it may be a little repetitive and banal in its dungeon exploration, but considering it was made for a contest, and the little innovations and inspired dialogues and story... I think it's more that can appear at a first glance. It's not in fact a generic, dull and classic rpg at all even if it parodies the genre. The only real flaws are the average maps, the lack of directions in some parts and the lack of balancing between classes, but I don't think this last one is a terrible problem, anyway the developer already mentioned these in the game description so I was somewhat prepared to an imperfect game. But yeah it's not bad at all...

Try it yourself!

Posts

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iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
Cool review! I agree with the sentiment.

Dunno if Cernus is still around, which is a shame since he was a pretty cool guy.

It's a pretty good game given the time frame. Some nifty gameplay systems, even if a little unbalanced. The story is where it really shines though!
author=iddalai
Cool review! I agree with the sentiment.

Dunno if Cernus is still around, which is a shame since he was a pretty cool guy.

It's a pretty good game given the time frame. Some nifty gameplay systems, even if a little unbalanced. The story is where it really shines though!


Absolutely! Also this earned the SECOND PLACE in the Golden Week of RM2k3 event!
No small feat considering it was made in a really short time! I agree with the problem addressed by the dev, otherwise, pretty good indeed!
I like the Golden Week of RM2k3 event, like a lot of games in this event. Although there are many works that have not been released, a pity.
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
author=Ulevo
I like the Golden Week of RM2k3 event, like a lot of games in this event. Although there are many works that have not been released, a pity.


Indeed, a lot of cool games were made for the Golden Week of RM2K3 event!
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